The Out-of-Towners Review
by Jon Popick (mailbot AT sick-boy DOT com)April 4th, 1999
PLANET SICK-BOY: http://www.sick-boy.com
I can understand why Hollywood remakes popular films of yesteryear, but 1970’s The Out-of-Towners, starring Jack Lemmon and Sandy Dennis, is not liked by a lot of people. I always thought that it was a good film and even keep a copy of it in my permanent video library, but even I would not have picked it to alter.
Since the original film was a precursor to the superior Planes, Trains & Automobiles, why not get Steve Martin to play the male lead? I’ve got no problem with that (except they changed his name from “George” to “Henry”), but Goldie Hawn? At what point did she turn into Carol Channing? Plus, the best part about the original was Dennis’ repeatedly whining her husband’s name over and over and over again. Hawn spends too much time trying to be a sexpot. Goldie, you’re sixty. Give it up.
Martin and Hawn (Housesitter) play Henry and Nancy Clark, two suburban Ohio parents that have just herded their last child out the door and find themselves alone, in an empty house, with nothing to do but bicker. Nancy is unaware of the importance of Henry’s upcoming job interview in New York City, because he has recently been fired but hasn’t had the guts to tell his wife. The trip, of course, is a disaster. They end up in Boston when New York is fogged in, they miss a train, they rent a car, they get mugged, and so on and so on. They also make the mistake of skipping the airline meal and then stagger through the rest of the film hungry. Now that’s humor!
If it weren’t for Martin, The Out-of-Towners would be pretty unbearable, and John Cleese (Monty Python) adds some laughs as an uptight hotel manager. When the picture ended (predictably at the 90-minute mark), this old guy sitting next to me hoped aloud that they would show outtakes during the credits. I pointed out to him that we been watching them for the last 90 minutes. (1:33 – PG-13 for some mild language and Hawn in low-cut lingerie…Oh, my God – I’m blind!)
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